There has been a significant improvement in kharif sowing levels, with the monsoon rains reviving over much of Peninsular India during the current month.
The latest sowing data from States compiled by the Agriculture Ministry shows progressive plantings of most crops, barring coarse cereals and pulses, to be higher relative to the area covered during this time last year.
The real improvement has taken place in cotton, where till last week, the area sown was trailing compared to last year. But the trend has reversed now, with farmers across the country planting 4.13 lakh hectares (lh) more compared with the corresponding acreage achieved at this time last year.
Most cotton-growing States have registered higher area coverage under cotton: Gujarat (25.80 lh versus 23.70 lh), Madhya Pradesh (7.06 versus 6.20), Haryana (5.981 versus 4.92), Punjab (5.75 versus 5.59), Rajasthan 4.39 versus 3.35), and Karnataka (3.47 versus 3.03).
Even in the two States where sowing is still lagging, Maharashtra (36.79 versus 38.45) and Andhra Pradesh (14.89 versus 15.17), the gap has narrowed down considerably.
Much of this improvement, which is also reflected in the area under other crops, is on account of the recent spell of rains across the entire stretch from Gujarat and Saurashtra-Kutch to Vidarbha, Marathwada, Telangana, Rayalaseema and North Interior Karnataka. This largely rainfed belt had received very poor rains during June, raising concerns over kharif sowing prospects.
But July has seen reasonably good rainfall in these regions, leading to a lowering of the cumulative monsoon rain deficit in Marathwada from 52 per cent (till June) to 7 per cent and, likewise, from 41 per cent to 15 per cent in Telangana, from 88 per cent to 40 per cent in Gujarat and from 72 per cent to 20 per cent in Saurashtra-Kutch.
Besides cotton, the country also appears to be heading for a bumper crop of soyabean, with about 12.5 lh additional area being sown this time. That could be the precursor to production surpassing even last year's all-time-high of 12.66 million tonnes.
But there are two important crops, sowings of which are still lagging. The first is maize, where plantings are lower in Madhya Pradesh (8.1 versus 8.13), Uttar Pradesh (7.14 lh versus 7.89 lh), Maharashtra (5.062 versus 6.284), Andhra Pradesh (3.65 versus 3.92) and Gujarat (2.65 versus 3.428), even while ahead in Rajasthan (10.357 versus 9.40) and Karnataka (8.51 versus 8.26).
The second crop is groundnut, where farmers have planted less in Gujarat (13.101 versus 16.287), Andhra Pradesh (7.85 versus 11.69) and Karnataka (2.68 versus 5.12) and marginally more in Rajasthan (3.945 versus 2.65) and Madhya Pradesh (2.17 versus 1.71).